“I procured a little gadget,” said Kim. “I dropped the gadget in various places where it wasn't likely to be found. If one man is under Disciplinary Circuit punishment, or two or three or four—that's not unreasonable on a great planet—nothing happens. But if twenty-five or fifty or a hundred are punished at once, the Disciplinary Circuit is blown out as I just blew out that force-field generator."
The Mayor of Steadheim considered this information.
“Ha-hmmm!” he said profoundly.
“Criminals can be kept down, but a revolt can't be suppressed,” Kim went on. “The soldiers who are occupying the twenty-one planets will be called back to put down revolts, as soon as the people discover the Disciplinary Circuits on their planets are blowing out, and that they blow out again as fast as they're remade and used."
“Hm!” said the Mayor of Steadheim. “Not bad! And the rebels will have some very tasty ideas of what to do to the folk who've tyrannized over them. No troops can stop a revolt nowadays. Not for long!"
“No, not for long,” said Kim. “No government will be able to rule with a dissatisfied population. Not if it has a little gadget hidden somewhere that will blow out the Disciplinary Circuit, if it's used to excess."
“Good enough, good enough,” grumbled the mayor. “When rulers are kept busy satisfying their people, they won't have time to bother political offenders. That's sensible enough! But it's too fiendish bad that only those twenty planets have the gadget on them! I suppose we criminals will have to set up a factory and make them, and then visit all the three hundred million inhabited planets, one by one, and drop one little contrivance on every one. But it'll take us centuries! Space! That's a pity!"
“It won't take centuries,” said Kim dryly. “I made a deal with a factory-owner on Spicus Five. He turned out the ones I personally dropped, in exchange for the design. He's going to manufacture them in quantity. He'll make a fortune out of them!"
“How? Who'll buy them?” demanded the mayor. “Every king will outlaw them! Space, yes! They'll be scared to death—"
“The kings,” said Kim more dryly than before, “the kings and despots and emperors will be the ones to buy them. They'll want them to drop in their neighbors’ dominions. Every king or ruler will buy a few to put where they will weaken his enemies—and every one has enemies! We don't have to plant the gadgets that make the Disciplinary Circuit into a boomerang! We'll let the kings weaken each other and bring back freedom. And they will!"
The Mayor of Steadheim puffed in his breath until it looked as if he would explode. Then he bellowed with laughter.
“Make the tyrants dethrone each other,” he roared delightedly. “They'll weaken each other until they find they've their own people to deal with. There'll be a fine scramble! I give it five years, no more, before there's not a king in the Galaxy who dares order an execution without a jury-trail first!"
“A consummation devoutly to be wished,” said Kim, smiling. “I rather like the idea myself."
The mayor heaved himself up.
“Hah!” he said, still chuckling. “I'll go back to my wife and tell her to come outdoors and look at the stars. What will you two do next?"
“Sleep, I suspect,” said Kim. It was all over. The realization made him aware of how tired he was. “We'll probably put in twenty-four hours of just plain slumber. Then we'll see if anything more needs to be done, and then I guess Dona and I will head back to Terranova. The Organizer there is worried about a shortage of textiles."
“To the devil with him,” grunted the Mayor of Steadheim. “We've had a shortage of sunlight! You're a good man, Kim Rendell. I'll tell my grandchildren about you, when I have them."
He waved grandly and went out. A little later his flier took off, occulting stars as it rose.
Kim closed the airlock door. He yawned again.
“Kim,” said Dona. “We had to break that shield, but it was dangerous."
“Yes,” said Kim. He yawned agin. “So it was. I'll be glad to get back to our house on Terranova."
“So will I,” said Dona. Her face had become determined. “We shouldn't ever think of leaving it again, Kim! We should—anchor ourselves to it, so nobody would think of asking us to leave."
“A good idea,” said Kim. “If it could be done."
Done looked critically at her fingers, but she flushed suddenly.
“It could,” she said softly. “The best way would be—children."
THE END
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